Institutional financial service providers create an enabling environment for investors to thrive in the financial market by providing them with the necessary tools, information, and financial instruments.
As an investment platform in the financial sector, brokerage service providers help Canadians identify investment opportunities to invest and trade in the capital market. Many brokers offer financial, and investment services in Canada, one of them is Interactive Brokers Canada, also known as IBKR Canada.
Conducting its activities in the Great White North since 2000, Interactive Brokers Canada Inc. provides global products and advanced tools with competitive rates for its customers to earn huge profits from their investments.
What is Interactive Brokers Canada (IB Canada)?
Interactive Brokers Canada Inc. is a financial and execution-only brokerage dealer in Canada with leading online trading solutions, tools, and trading instruments for all types of investors.Â
Interactive Brokers Canada offers its services (including research, technology, administration, and business development) to investors and advisors with a wide range of financial products, including stock, options, futures, currencies, bonds, and more. As a result, the Interactive Brokers platform lets individual traders and investors, institutions, and third-party service providers such as advisors, brokerage, and wealth managers meet and do business together.
Interactive Brokers Canada was established in December 2000 as a subsidiary of the Interactive Brokers Group Inc. The company provides direct, high-speed access and seamless connections to over 100 equity and derivative exchanges, global trade markets, and an increasing number of Electronic Communication Networks (ECNs).
Interactive Brokers Canada is a member of several exchanges and regulatory organizations, including the Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF).
Interactive Brokers Canada Account Categories
Interactive Brokers Canada (IB Canada) provides its trading and investment services to individual investors and institutional investors to trade in more than 135 markets in 33 countries with a single integrated account.
IB Canada Individual Account Types
Individual Account
As the name suggests, IB Canada individual account is designed as a professional gateway to global trade markets. This account is suitable for a single account holder. This trading account holds access to all Interactive Brokers functions, account management, and portfolio margin. This account is geared towards professional and active traders and investors with good product knowledge and prior execution of trades.
Joint Account
The joint account is designed for two account holders with equal access to all the IB Canada brokerage functions. The IB Canada joint account can be one of these categories:
- Tenancy in common
- Tenancy by the entirety
- Tenants with rights of survivorship
- Community property
Trust Account
The IB Canada trust account is an account structure designed for a legally established entity in which assets are held by one party to benefit another party. The trustee controls the management of the investments.
Retirement Account
The retirement account known as Individual Retirement Accounts (IRA) is available to individual US tax residents only, with the same benefits as the individual account. Interactive Brokers offers cash or margin IRAs to eligible customers.
Friends and Family Account
This account is suitable for an aspiring registered advisor or an individual who manages a group of accounts such as wife, daughter, and cousin. The friends and family account is a Master Account linked to individual client accounts for fee collection and trade allocations. The advisor has access to most account functions, including trading, while the clients only have access to account management functions.
IB Canada Institutional Account Types
Registered Investment Advisors
This is a Master account designed for an individual or organization Registered Investment Advisors to manage client administration (wealth management) and the clients’ money (money management). This master account is linked to clients’ accounts for fee collection and trade allocations.
Hedge Fund Accounts
This account is designed for hedge funds or an advisor that manages a family of funds, including individually managed accounts. IB Canada provides prime broker services, including trading, clearing, custody, and reporting for cost-sensitive funds.
Prop Traders
Known as the proprietary Trading Group, this account is designed for Corporation, Partnership, Limited Liability Company or Unincorporated legal structure that trades on its own behalf in a multiple or single account to trade, clear, and report on over 135 global markets.
Introducing Brokers
This account is suitable for Registered Brokers or FCM for effective business and client management, including trade execution and clearing services.
Family Office
This is designed for private advisory firms that manage the finances and investments of ultra-high net worth individuals or families. This master account is linked to multiple client accounts.
Compliance Officers
This is a single account linked to multiple individuals, joint, trust, and IRA employee accounts for trade monitoring. The account is suitable for any organization that needs to monitor all or some of their employees’ trading activity.
Small Business Accounts
This is a single account suitable for holding assets owned by an entity account holder. This brokerage account is designed for corporations, partnerships, limited liability corporations, and unincorporated legal structures.
Money Manager
This account is suitable for an individual or organization Registered Advisor providing investment management services on behalf of another advisor (wealth manager) for clients’ money management.
Fund Administrators
This account is ideal for an organization that provides third-party administrative, auditing, legal, and other institutional services. This is a single account linked to multiple Advisors, single or multiple Hedge Funds, and Proprietary Trading Group accounts.
Educators
As an educator in a high school or a college, you can use the Interactive Brokers trading platform to enhance students’ experience in your financial, computer science, and business classes.
Interactive Brokers Canada Trading Products
Interactive Brokers Canada offers the following financial instruments as trading products for its customers to trade and invest in the market worldwide:
Stocks
Trade stocks in 135 markets and 33 countries with a single account using advanced order types, algorithms, and sophisticated trading tools.
Options
Trade a full range of options contracts, including equity, index, and currency, on the major exchanges in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Futures
Trade futures, commodities, and futures options, including Agricultural, Energy, Metals, etc., in over 35 financial markets in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Spot Currencies
Trade 23 foreign currencies (Forex) worldwide, including USD, CAD, AUD, JPY, MXN, CHF, CZK, EUR, GBP, RUB, ZAR, etc.
Metals
Trade IBKR Spot Gold and IBKR Spot Silver with access to the international over the counter (OTC) market for gold and silver – the London bullion market.
Bonds
Get access to a selection of corporate, government, and municipal securities.
Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs)
Invest in a wide range of equity and bond indices, including short ETFs and leveraged ETFs on 28 exchanges in 14 countries.
Mutual Funds
Get access to over 34,000 no-load funds from over 380 fund families available in over 200 countries and territories through the Interactive Brokers Mutual Fund Marketplace.
Exchange for Physical (EFP)
Initiate an Exchange for Physical (EFP), which lets you swap a long or short stock position for a Single Stock Future (SSF).
Hedge Funds Investing
Accredited Investors and Qualified Purchasers under the SEC rules can view information on independent Hedge Funds.
Robo Portfolios
Invest in over 60 actively and passively managed portfolios with just a $100 minimum investment.
Interactive Brokers Canada Trading Platforms
Client Portal
The client portal is a web application trading platform that lets you view, trade, and manage your IB Canada trading account with a simple login.
Trader Workstation
Trader Workstation is a desktop trading platform designed for investors and active traders who have mastered the art of financial market investment. This trading platform lets traders, investors and institutions trade stocks, options, futures, and other assets in over 100 markets from a single account. The trader workstation can be accessed on any internet-enabled web browser.
IBKR Mobile
The IBKR Mobile app lets you trade on the go and manage your account from anywhere, anytime. The Mobile app is available for download on the Google Play Store for Android devices.
IBKR APIs
The Interactive Brokers trading API solutions let you build custom trading applications and integrate them into your existing applications with complete access to market instruments. IB Canada APIs include Excel API, FIX API, Client Portal API, and TWS API.
Interactive Brokers Canada Margin Trading
The Interactive Brokers Canada platform provides its customers with access to engage in margin trading. Margin is a loan borrowed from a brokerage to purchase an investment or securities. This includes:
- Stocks Margin.
- Options Margin.
- Futures Margin.
- SSFs Margin
- Fixed Income Margin
- Mutual Funds Margin
Interactive Brokers Canada Pricing and Fees
Interactive Brokers Canada is famous for its low commission and fees. The platform has a pricing structure that caters to the needs of every active trade, infrequent traders, and investors.
In terms of its trade commissions, customers of IB Canada can choose between two price plans:
- Fixed-Rate Pricing Plan, which generally charges a fixed rate low commission per share.
- Tiered Pricing Plan, which charges fees on monthly trading volume. This decreases depending on volume, exchange, regulatory and clearing fees.
Fixed Commissions Rate
| Variables | Rate |
| Canadian Stocks, ETF and Warrants | |
| Fixed commission rate | CAD 0.01 per share |
| Minimum rate per order | CAD 1.00 |
| Maximum per order | 0.5% of trade value |
| US Stock | |
| Commission rate | 0.005 USD per share |
| minimum per order | USD 1.00 |
| maximum per order | 1.0% of the trade value |
| Futures and FOPs | |
| commissions per contract | CAD 2.40 |
| minimum per order | CAD 2.40 |
Margin Bench Mark (BM) Rates (Interest Charged On Margin Loans)
| Variables | Rate |
| 0 – 140,000 CAD | 1.5% (BM + 1.5%) |
| 140,000 – 1,400,000 CAD | 1% (BM + 1%) |
| 1,400,000 – 140,000,000 CAD | 0.5% (BM + 0.5%) |
| 140,000,000 CAD plus | 0.5% (BM + 0.5%) |
Interest Rates on Uninvested Cash Balances
| Variables | Rate |
| 0 – 14,000 CAD | 0% |
| 14,000 CAD | 0% (BM – 0.5%) |
| 140,000.01 – 1,400,000 CAD | 0% (BM – 1.75%) |
| 1,400,000.01 – 3,000,000 CAD | 0% (BM – 1.1%) |
| 3,000,000.01 CAD plus | 0% (BM – 0.9%) |
Note: These rates change from time to time at the discretion of the issuer. Consult the provider for current rates before investing your money.
IB Canada Account Opening
Account opening on the Interactive Brokers Canada platform is simple, and the approval generally takes 1-2 business days.
- Choose your preferred account (individual or institution)
- Create a username and password
- Confirm your email address
- Complete the application process.
Requirements
- Social Insurance Number (SIN) or proof of ID number.
- Employer name, address and phone number.
- Bank or third party broker account number for funding purposes.
- The name, profession and address of the commissioner of oath or the guarantor (which may include a Judge, Dentist, Medical Doctor, Lawyer, Engineer, etc.)
- Proof of residency
Interactive Brokers Canada Education Tools
The Interactive Brokers Canada platform is suitable for learning about trading, financial markets and IBKR’s trading tools. The IBKR Campus is equipped with the following educational tools:
- Interactive Brokers Traders’ Academy
- IBKR Webinars
- IBKR Traders’ Insight
- IBKR Quant
- IBKR Student Trading Lab
- Short Videos and Glossary
Interactive Brokers Canada Membership and Regulations
Interactive Brokers Canada is a member of the following exchanges, clearinghouses and regulatory bodies:
- Investment Industry Regulatory Organisation of Canada (IIROC)
- Canadian Investor Protection Fund (CIPF)
- Alpha Trading Systems
- Canadian National Stock Exchange (CNSX)
- Chi-X
- Pure Trading ECN
- Omega ATS
- Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX)
- TSX Venture Exchange
IB Canada Customer Service
Interactive Brokers Canada Inc. has its registered office at:
1800 McGill College Avenue
Suite 2106
Montreal, Québec
H3A 3J6
Canada.
Additionally, you can reach Customer Service through:
Phone: 1 (877) 745-4222
Live Chat (available 24 hours Monday to Friday)
Email: (on-screen email form)
Interactive Brokers Canada Editor’s Review
As a subsidiary of the global Interactive Brokers Group, Interactive Brokers Canada has low fees and a wide range of financial products with unique tools and trading platforms.
However, the platform may seem too complicated for beginners. The account opening process and categorization of fees can also be confusing for many potential investors and traders.
Interactive Brokers Canada FAQs
Is Interactive Brokers suitable for day trading?
Many day trading activities take place on Interactive Brokers as the platform is designed to cater to day traders’ needs.
Why do I have to fill out a W8 if I am a Canadian citizen with an account at IB Canada, a Canadian company?
You are required to complete and file a United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form W-8 since you have the ability to trade US products and earn US-source income (e.g. interest and dividends). The IRS requires that IB Canada customers file a Form W-8 so that IB Canada can avoid withholding funds from your account for US taxes at a higher penalty rate.
Can I open a registered account on the Interactive Brokers platform?
Yes. Interactive Brokers offers the Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP), including Spousal RRSP and Tax-Free TFSA accounts.
How does the SEC day trading rule affect Canadians?
The day trading rule doesn’t affect IB Canada accounts.
Can Canadian residents trade on all Canadian securities on Interactive Brokers?
Interactive Brokers Canada does not offer Mutual Funds trading for its Canadian clients. Hence, Canadians can trade on other financial products available on IB Canada.
*Note: Rates and product offerings in this review are subject to periodic change at the issuer’s discretion. For current rates, check with the provider.
